Janković, Mayor of Ljubljana, Pleads Not Guilty To Bribery

By , 29 Nov 2018, 20:00 PM Politics
Janković, Mayor of Ljubljana, Pleads Not Guilty To Bribery From the mayor's Facebook page

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STA, 29 November 2018 - Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković pleaded not guilty as he appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing on Thursday in the Gratel case, in which he is charged with taking a bribe from a company to the benefit of the city.

"I think I'd be guilty if I hadn't done what I'm charged with," he told judge Vladislava Lunder at the Ljubljana District Court.

The case concerns EUR 500,000 which the mayor demanded from construction company Gratel in March 2007 to allow it to dig roads to install optic cables.

Gratel then transferred two EUR 250,000 instalments to the municipality as a donation for the renovation of Ljubljana Castle.

This enabled it to resume its work under a new development permit after Janković had initially banned Gratel from digging on public premises.

The payment was compensation for the damage incurred by the city because Gratel had dug up wider conduits and installed more cables than agreed.

Janković had already denied the allegation of bribery when the police raided the offices of the municipality and several other locations in February 2014.

His defence counsel Janez Koščak demanded today that evidence obtained in the 2014 house searches be excluded, arguing it had been obtained by violating human rights.

The lawyer explained the relevant court order had not specified the suspected crimes, which made the house searches unlawful.

Upon leaving the courtroom, Janković said he did not understand what prosecutor Blanka Žgajnar wanted to achieve with the indictment.

"A private company has paid compensation because it assessed it had installed too many cables," Janković repeated his view of the case.

He reiterated there was nothing wrong with a company making a donation to a public institution, saying it caused no damage to anyone and nobody except the prosecutor was claiming anything back.

Janković is convinced he is innocent: "I believe I'll prove my justice. They cannot sentence an innocent person."

He told the judge he had came to the courtroom "out of respect for the court", having had a business trip scheduled for today, which means he could have avoided it.

The main hearing in the Gratel case will start on 3 January.

Janković has another trial coming up soon, where he faces allegations of fraud concerning EU funds for the Stožice sports complex project.

While the trial starts next week, the pre-trial hearing for him is scheduled for 12 December.

Jankovič, who has led Ljubljana since late 2006, is also subject to criminal proceedings in several other cases.

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